Life lessons from Buffett and Munger — pure gold
Archives of “April 2019” month
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Gold moves higher as dollar weakens
Up $8 on the day
The price of gold is moving higher on the back of a weakening dollar today.
Looking at the hourly chart below, the precious metal tumbled lower after the US GDP report (and initial run higher in the USD) but has reversed course and trades at the highest level since April 16th. At the low, the price did move back below the 200 and 100 hour MAs, but that was quickly reversed. There is a short covering going on.
The price has moved above the 38.2% at $1283.32 (of the trend move down from the April 10 high). The 50% of the same move is the next target at $1288.55. Close risk for longs would likely center on the $1280.95-$1283.32 area. The $1280.95 is the low from April 4. The $1283.32 is the 38.2% retracement.
It’s the moment of reckoning for Tesla shares
Shares break major support
Tesla is an epic battle between bulls and bears that has been unfolding for years. Elon Musk is either a genius or an unhinged fraudster as both sides have increasingly dug in.
However Musk has slowly lost credibility by over-promising and under-delivering. Now the market is losing faith.
The chart tells the story with the major double bottom near $244 now giving way. It’s a long way to support from here.
Trump says he called OPEC and told them to bring prices down
Did he call Iran?
Who did he think he was calling? 1-800-OPEC? OPEC is a group, there’s no king of OPEC.
Chinese president Xi reportedly could travel to US to sign trade deal as early as June
SCMP reports, citing sources familiar with the matter
The report says that Xi’s visit will be arrange once trade negotiators finalise a deal to end the tariffs war. Adding that Xi is open to the idea of travelling to the US immediately if the two sides can finalise a deal, also saying that “June is an option but it could be later”.
Ugh. Too many caveats there for my liking i.e. “if” and “could be later”. Didn’t we see the something along the same headlines for a deal to be signed in April or May? I would be a bit skeptical if this report spurs a more risk-on tone in markets today.
20 One liners from Market Wizards
They focus on what really matters in trading success.
They have developed a trading method that fits their own personality.
They trade with an edge.
The harder they work at trading the luckier they get.
They do the homework to develop a methodology through researching ideas.
The principles they use in their trading models are simple.
They have mental and emotional control is key while winning or losing.
They manage the risk to avoid failure and pain.
They have the discipline to follow their trading plan.
Market wizards have confidence and independence in themselves as traders
They are good losers. (Cutting losses when proven wrong and even reversing the direction of their trades when the price action dictates it).
They are patient with winning trades and impatient with losing trades.
The fully understand the right way to position size for their goals of returns and draw downs based on their risk/reward and winning percentage.
Market wizards understand comfortable trades are usually losing trades while the more uncomfortable trades are usually the winners.
Emotions are dangerous masters to the trader, they know how to manage their own emotions.
Market wizards evolve as a trader to avoid eventually failing in a method that has lost its edge over time.
It is not the news but how the market reacts to that news is what they watch for.
The best trader are always learning through their own mistakes.
Passion for trading was the fuel for their eventual success.
Reminder: Japanese markets set for a 10-day break after today
Normal service will only resume back on 7 May
As Tokyo traders are about to leave their desks today, just be reminded that they won’t be back until 7 May as Japan will observe a 10-day holiday starting from tomorrow.
The yen is holding more steady today but part of the reason why it gained some bids over the week has been speculation that traders are fearing about another possible flash crash – like the one in January – in the currencies market during this period.
I want to say that when markets tend to “prepare” for things like these, they often don’t pan out because everyone is anticipating it. However, in periods of thin liquidity, especially in the so-called ‘twilight zone’ between North American and Asian trading, it’s very much like the wild, wild west at times.
And with the sheriff leaving town for a couple of days, who knows what can happen?
ICYMI: North Korea’s Kim says US acted in ‘bad faith’ during talks in Vietnam
KCNA reports
The report says Kim told Putin that “the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the region is now at a standstill and has reached a critical point”, warning that the situation may “return to its original state” as the UK chose to act in ‘bad faith’ during recent talks.
While North Korea risk hasn’t really done much for markets in recent months, it’s best not to discount it completely given recent developments.
Sony lowers profit forecast on slowing PS4 sales
Sony warned of declining profits in the 12 months ahead as slowing PlayStation 4 sales and costs to develop a next-generation gaming console put a brake on a two-year run of record earnings.
The Japanese electronics and entertainment group, which is preparing for another activist campaign by Daniel Loeb’s Third Point, also scrapped its fiscal 2020 operating profit target on Friday, citing rapidly changing business conditions.
For the new fiscal year through March 2020, Sony said it expects its net profit to fall 45 per cent from a year earlier to ¥500bn ($4.5bn), due also to the absence of gains from the partial sale of its stake in Spotify.
The weak outlook is expected to strengthen calls from analysts for Sony to pull out of its struggling mobile phone business, which the company has said is critical to developing 5G technologies.
The forecast also comes as Sony’s shares have risen following an April 8 report by Reuters that Third Point was building a stake for the second time. Jefferies upgraded the stock to “buy” on hopes that activist pressure would force Sony to sell its loss-making smartphone business.
Sony saw its operating profit nearly quadruple to ¥82.7bn for the fiscal fourth quarter, boosted by its image sensor and PlayStation businesses.